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I was inspired to try DWC, especially after hearing about "Lucas Formula/Method".
I picked my Special Queen by RQS freebie to be my test subject in this experiment. Thank you my Royal Queen 💚
Germinated in 4cm grodan rockwool cube, with seedling sticking out above and poking her first root below in 4 days.
Transferred her to the first small custom built bubbler dwc reservoir with only 3L.
Plan to transfer her to 20L as soon as she gain some root mass and if she survives in general. Going mostly diy as usual.
T20-22 RH60-80%
Day 1 I noticed foaming and a bad smell, changed the 3L solution, this time without Root Booster to see if it helps.
Day 2 Whoever said hydro is easy is out of his mind :) It's so hard to keep water below 22C... My PH went back from 5.8 to 7+ in 12h, so it seems my PH down by biobizz doesn't work in hydro because it's weak citric acid... And problems just keep rising and it's only day 2.
Day 3 Foam again, maybe it's normal 👹 I just read that Micro should be mixed in first, then Grow, then Bloom... Could rockwool be rotting? Smells bad... Cleaned again, dropped the water level lower to 2.5L so that less moisture could reach the net pot. The plant looks ok so far...
Day 5 She is still alive and growing which is a miracle! Changed reservoir again... it was foamy, smelling funky and ph almost 8!!! I still blame citric acid in biobizz ph down... I'm now a self-proclaimed expert in ph down acids😎... so many new words, carbohydrates, phospates, nitrates, sulfates, citrates😵 I can only see one root but it seems to get longer day by day, not minding the rot so far.
Day 6 I moved her to a smaller net pot and a bigger glass reservoir, removed most of the grodan cube around the stalk. I think it was too wet and rotting. Made the one long root touch the water ~4cm below the net and she responded with development and roots growing sideways. Ph still doesn't hold at 5.5 and keeps rising to 7 but at least no foam and fishy smell.
Day 7 So far I'm not a fan of DWC but I will keep going and learning while I can :)
Special Queen by RQS
Indica: 50%
Sativa: 50%
THC: 18%
CBD: Low
Indoor Yield: 500 – 550 gr/m2
Flowering: 8-9 weeks
Height: 80-140 cm
Effects: Long Lasting , Physically Relaxing, Powerful
Taste: Sweet, Spicy, Lemon, Fruits
Flavor: Earthy, Fruity, Skunk
Week 2
Day 8 Another try of stabilizing PH with some diluted water and bringing it down from 7 to 6 at least and extra nutes to raise EC back to ~1. Not a res change, just mixing in.
Day 9 So far so good, she keeps developing.
Day 10 Moved her to the final res with ~15L - PH became more stable. Weirdly the same dose of ph down that was bringing 0.2 points down 24h before - now dropped my ph -1.5 so that I had to add more 7ph water to bring it back from 4.9 to 5.6. Chemistry was never my thing :) Added a ziplock bag with an ice block that I'm changing every 12-24h so that my water stays a couple degrees under 22C.
Day 11 I see more roots developing, they look white and clean, water is transparent, no smell no foam 🙌 She looks beaten up after all my ph experiments😷 Today ph is 6 which is OK and I'm not gonna intervene. EC is still ~1
Day 12 It feels like she's not growing, maybe dealing with some issue, I can't tell what is wrong. The tent is a bit dry T22C RH 50%-55% RES: 6.2ph ~480ppm (~1EC)
Day 13 Ph seems to be stable as well as EC/PPM
Day 14 More roots appeared, she is taking her time, nodes are quiet close... I decided to run the reservoir for at least 10 days if all goes well.
Day 17 I forgot to take pictures of the roots - but they are going great, gaining mass, we'll do so tomorrow and she looks healthier than some of my soil girls, so I guess we're good 💚
Day 18 She has quiet close internode structure.
Day 19 - It's been 9 days since I filled the bucket. I decided to top up the nutes instead of changing the whole reservoir for now since things were going pretty stable. So I topped up from EC 1 to 1.3, pH stays ~6. Increase the power on the lamp a bit.
Day 20 EC1.3 PH6.2 stabil
Day 21 EC1.4 PH6.3 why is EC going up?! Topped her 5th node and prunned her 1st leaving nodes 2-3-4 for 6 branches
Day 22 Going strong after topping, but need more ice blocks, temp is too close to failure 21.5C She's looking better than my soil girls that's for sure.
Day 23 PH5.9 EC1.4 I added about 500ml with lower ph to drop it from 6.4 Ec is pretty stable.
Day 24 PH6 EC1.4 She starts drinking more also her leaves are huge.
Day 25 PH6 EC1.4 Water level dropped a tiny bit, so it looks like she is drinking. Two top fan leaves are the biggest I've had, covering lower growth so I think I will need to remove them but I just can't because they look like they feed half of the plant). Lowest fan leaves are clawing down and drying for some reason. Maybe because VPD is a bit high, for some reason hydro tent has lower RH than soil. Contemplating switching to 12/12
Found this amazing helpful table.
Days 26-27 That's the progress I like to see. The water level dropping slowly which is good. But EC stays stable at 1.38 ph5.9. Last complete change of the reservoir was 17 days ago. I might top it up a bit slightly raising EC level.
Day 28 So I did. PH was 5.8 EC 1.38 - added about 1.5L topping EC to 1.47 and PH to 6.0. She starts to drink noticeable amount, if PH keeps dropping I will do a reservoir change in a few days it will be 4 weeks since I mixed first 15L. I think I'm gonna start the switch.
Day 29 SOS! Everything went to shit - the smell again, some slime in water, roots going brown... ugh. I had to perform an emergency reservoir cleanse while she waited in a bucket with some flashclean for a few minutes. I blame Sugar Royal because it's the only thing that was added in the last three weeks and immediately the next day the reservoir spoiled. So no more Sugar Royal in my dwc... PH 5.7 EC 1.55 FRESH 15L
Day 30 Her poor roots are still a bit brown but she looks ok so far, no foam, no smell. I'm astonished how thick her stems are at this stage, how big her leaves are and how healthy green and fat they are compared to my soil girls. She also started to produce smell although she's not even flowering yet. PH 6.4 EC 1.6 - some swings but I will give it another night to stabilise.
Day 31 Gosh roots look bad on the photo... hope I just missed the flash light :) It was all to white and perfect last week... Removed a lot of leaves that were fighting each other to help with the air flow and light penetration. Thought of installing scrog but then I won't be ably to get her out of the reservoir... I need to figure smth out. Also I had to add like 2L of water because she is drinking a lotlike a liter per day at this stage.
Day 32 She's gorgeous, indeed a queen :) I wish all my grows were as green an bushy as this one 💪 I see some dark flakes from the roots swimming in her tank. But the water looks clean. Might need another 2-3L top up tomorrow. PH6.3 EC1.7
Day 33 I made a scrog to help me spread the canopy... Hope she won't mind, but I might need a pump now to change the water... reservoir was ph6.1 ec 1.7 - ~3000ml topped up with ph5.5 ec1.75. Now tank's ph5.8 ec1.73
Day 35 I added the leftovers ~750ml, today ph was 5.9, ppm/ec at 880/1.76... I don't really know why EC is not dropping but she looks alright. I removed another batch of leaves, mostly those covering young shoots and the ones slowly dying under the canopy.
Day 36 So ph was dropping with the water levels, while EC was crippling up. Had to learn what's an acid rain situation in dwc... Last data ph5.6 EC 1.8 - added 2L of just tap+distilled ph 7.4 ec 0.5 = got me res ph 6.4 ec 1.6 - let's see what tomorrow brings. Forums said to try dropping EC a bit when topping up before changing the res completely when fighting dropping ph. Also check this leaf size,😲 it's the biggest I've grown and it's twice as big as the biggest fan leaf on my biggest soil girl. It's the size of a facehugger!
P.S. it's been a week since 12/12 - so far no signs.
Day 37 A couple more leaves removed including another huge one from down under. She's getting huge, I could've easily switched to 12/12 a week earlier or more... PH6.2 EC1.6
Day 38 Leftovers added ~1000ml, more leaves removed as well as a couple of small branches from below. Day 8 of flip, no pistils in sight. PH6.0 EC1.6
Day 39 PH5.7 EC1.8
Day 40 PH 5.7 EC1.66 - topped up 2000ml to PH6.5 EC1.46 - I'm going to flush using FlashClean 24h before full res change because we're entering Preflowering. Pistils spotted 11 days after switch to 12/12. More scrog training done in preparation for stretch.
Day 41 PH 6.5 EC1.5 I don't know what's going on but but she drinks a lot and needs a res change soon. I was able to spread her beautifully around the scrog!
Day 42 1000ml leftovers added now ph6 ec1.5 more scrogging she has so many flowers omg, week 6 done! What a beautiful vigorous plant at least twice as big as her soil collegues.
Day 43 Another 2L added, fucking hell I think this tree drinks more than me at this point... PH 5.6 EC 1.5 - ph keeps falling, ec stays pretty stable... I injected some FlashClean 1.5ml/L before tomorrow's full Res Change into Preflowering.
Day 44 I changed the res - fresh 15L of preflowering mix, ph6.5 ec1.46 - she started stretching. A few more leaves removed as well as some pruning under scrog.
Day 45 Morning: Rising PH7.2 EC1.46 - ph downed to 6.3 EC 1.58 / Evening: ph6.1 ec1.58 More leaves removed trying to fix the air flow.
Day 46 And I'm leaving her for 9 days, removed a lot of vegetation, raised the light and lowered the power... hope she survives...
Day 55 She survived! It was quiet low vpd week... The bucket was like 1 third left - I topped up with tap and later drop ph and added some nutes - EC1.55 PH6.1
Had to defoliate her violently, broke off a couple of branches by accident, sorry not sorry
Day 56 Week 8 done! Ph fell to 5.6, EC rose to 1.6, she's drinking but not as much. I guess I fked her up good with this massive defoliation. She's a beast, weird but there's no smell yet...
Day 57 Ph fell to 5.6, EC 1.6 - added 1L tap water to raise ph and drop ppm a bit. Since I can't feel any smell now, I'm worried that I'm not gonna like it later when I have so many flowers :) Increased the light strength a bit to see how she reacts. I noticed some tip burns. Does anyone have aby experience with Green Sensation in dwc?
Days 58-59 Where's the smell? Ph 6.1 EC 1.6
Days 60-62 Still no smell... Day 61 added another 2L of tap because ph was falling 5.5 EC was about 1.6. Day 62 PH6.5 EC 1.5
Day 63 Gosh she drinks like 1L a day - latest data ph6.2 ec1.6 Almost three weeks since last full res change. I dont know if I should do it again because things look ok at the moment. So why fix it if it aint broken :)
DAY 64
📑 - DWC PH 6 - EC 1.6
🌱 - She looks good, I'm struggling with picking leaves to defoliate because there are so many flowers, I'm barely fitting them all in with some staying in the dark but still looking better than my soil ones :)
DAY 65
💧 - Added 2000ml tap water ph7.2 + and nutes + plagron power buds and green sensation
📑 - DWC PH 6.4 - EC 1.7
🌱 - Tried raising EC slightly but I think I got burn marks on some leaf tips.
DAY 67
📑 - DWC PH 6.4 - EC 1.6
DAY 68
💧 - Added 2000ml tap water + TA calmag 15ml (1ml/L)
📑 - DWC PH 5.8 - EC 2
🌱 - Some nasty necro spots and rusty dots all around.
DAY 69
📑 - DWC PH 6 - EC 1.8
DAY 70
📑 - DWC PH 6 - EC 1.9
DAY 71
💧 - Added 1000ml tap water with PH- to drop ph from 6.9 and ec 1.7
📑 - DWC PH 6.4 - EC 1.7
🌱 - She starts to develop the smell, I finally see some potential. I just need to fix her.
I'm using TA Tripart, current EC is 1.6 - ph 5.5-6.5. Everything was smooth until week 10. Two weeks ago I started adding Plagron Power Buds and Green Sensation. Yesterday added CalMag to see if it helps, but it doesnt seem to... She drinks a lot, ph mostly goes down, EC static
Yes, that could be Caclium deficieny (not Mg).
Because you are soilless/hydro there's an easy way to figure this out. Calculate the ppms of Ca you provide from all your products added together. If it's greater than 100ppm, it's more likely something is locking it out than a physical deficiency.
P is the most likely candidate to lockout Ca. Probably need well over 100+ ppm of P to inhibit Ca, but that's just a guess. ("mulder's chart" is reference)
there are apps that can calculate and tabulate your elemental ppm by simply typing in gauranteed analysis info and dose of each product. Growbuddy? hydrobuddy? something akin to that moniker. They also have an online calculator, if i still have it in my bookmarks i'll copy it below.
https://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/articles/profiles.htm -- not the one i was thinking of but could work. the better ones will take info from all your product and add it all up. this one looks like you'd ahve to do each product seperately then add together.
important note to consider: "When no weight information is available for liquid fertilizers the nutrient profile can be understated by as much as 25%."
Do not compare these ppm to a TDS reading. TDS readings are not accurate ppm for this context. Dependin on manufacturer and nothign else, it may use significantly different conversion factors because the ppm reading you see is just EC multiplied by one of 4 or 5 different factors... a bit whimsical in nature, lol. TDS ppm readings are mostly useless except to see if consistency is maintained. The reading is consistent, it's just not accurate. That website also mentions this tidbit.
What i type below is a very loose set of values that may vary greatly.. or if another ratio of nutes works out well could result in different ranges that are ideal...
N 120-130 (100 or less in flower)
P 40-60
K 180 ish
Ca 100+
mg 75ish
S 100+
If anything is wildly different, in this case wildly higher while Ca is somewhere nearby, it is more likely lockout. Drastically different ratios may result in different "safe" ranges for these PPMs. Again, mulder's chart is the reference as to why that is the case. the more similar to these ratios you feed, the more useful these numbers become. All imean is there are more than 1 way to skin this cat. I wouldn't assume to know which is the best, but this formula works for nearly all plants i've grown with few requring anything but minor adjustments.
Dark leaves aren't always a sign of overfeeding, some strains just have darker leaves. Nute burn will display more on your tips, not random spots like that. Also 1.6 EC isn't high at all. I use TA(well General Hydroponics but same diff) and your ratios look good. I'm not familiar with the Plagron additives you're using, if it's nute related I'd look there. I see a lot of topoffs mentioned in your diary but no mentions of tank changes anytime recently....how often do you? Might consider doing it at least every two weeks if you're not already. I can get a little lazy about tank changes myself but it's never a bad idea if you got issues popping up.
einamio
